At a media conference last Friday the cybercrime team led by Communication and Information Technology Minister Jimmy Miringtoro outlined and explained the legislation passed in Parliament 73-0 the previous day.

"The Bill is a significant piece of legislation designed to deal with crimes and offences committed against individuals, the public, Government agencies or corporate entities through the use of information and communication," Mr Miringtoro said.

"The ICT industry players, law enforcement agencies, including the courts and key government stakeholders have been consulted and their views considered towards the finalisation of the Bill."

Mr Miringtoro said the Government recognises that liberalisation of the ICT market has inevitably contributed to heightened exposure to cybercrime, inforrnatlon security threats and related offences similar to that experienced by other countries.

Moreover, the Government acknowledges that the existing laws do not adequately cover the offences of cybercrime thus necessitating the urgency to develop an appropriate legislative framework to combat and deter the commission of offences through the use of ICTs.

"On a national basis, the legislation will enable law enforcement agencies to investigate and effectively prosecute such crimes in court, and on the global plane, it will improve our country’s position against foreign incidences of cybercrime particularly where offenders who are likely to move such illegal activities into the country given our current lack of adequate legislative measures," the Minister said.

"The Bill is the result of a rigorous policy development and key stakeholder consultation process as part of the implementation of the National Cybercrime Policy approved by NEC Decision 219 of 2014," he said.

"The Government is aware that cybercrime is a constantly evolving threat and legal measures will require concurrent amendments in future in order to counter new threats and harness the rapid evolution of technological development," Mr Miringtoro said.

Some of the offences and penalties specified in the new law include:

Age of Criminal Culpability - set at 10 years and below which stipulates that juveniles between the ages of 10 and 14 years are not criminally responsible unless it is proved to the contrary that they had the knowledge to know not to do or make the omission resulting in the offence;

Defamatory Publication - 25 years or a fine not exceeding K50,000 to K100,000, or both;

Unlawful Disclosure - 25 years of imprisonment or a fine of K100,000, or both;

Pornography -15 years or a fine up to K25,000, or both;

Hacking or Unauthorised Access which could amount to a jail term of five years and a fine up to K7000;

Child Pornography/ Child Online Grooming - 25 years or a fine up to Kl00,000, or both;

Animal Pornography - 25 years or K100,000 fine;

Cyber bullying - five years imprisonment or K100,000 fine;

Cyber Extortion - 25 years or a fine not exceeding K50,000, or both;

Illegal Interception -15 to 25 years imprisonment or fines not exceeding K50,000 and K100, 000, or K1 million;

Data Interference - 10 years or a fine not exceeding K50,000, or both;

System Interference - 10 years or a fine up to K10,000;

Electronic Fraud/Electronic Forgery - 15 to 25 years or a fine not exceeding K100,000;

Restraining Orders and Partial Disclosure, Authorised Interception, Collection of Traffic Data, Forensic Tools, Criminal Liability of ICT Service Providers, Disclosure of Details of an Investigation, Mutual Assistance, Extradition, Rules and Regulations also have their own penalties.